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PAM. 
N.  AMER. 


EAST  CENTRAL  STATES  BUREAU 


MRS.  E.  L.  ALBRIGHT,  BUREAU  SECRETARY 
HE  question  is  asked,  What  are  the  schools  and 


homes  in  the  East  Central  States  doing  for  the 


evolution  of  the  Negro?  We  answer  with  full 
assurance  that,  because  of  their  influence,  the  best 
types  of  men  and  women  of  the  Negro  race  are  in  the 
making.  The  work  of  this  Bureau  is  not  confined  to 
women  and  girls,  for  in  these  schools  boys  and  young 
men  enjoy  equal  privileges. 

The  work  at  Asheville,  North  Carolina,  begun  by  Dr. 
L.  M.  Pease,  the  noted  founder  of  the  Five  Points 
Mission  of  New  York,  and  carried  on,  under  his  direc- 
tion, in  a remodeled  livery  stable,  consisted  of  an  un- 
graded school  of  both  sexes  and  all  ages,  whose  mental, 
moral,  and  religious  faculties  were  of  the  most  primitive 
and  undeveloped  type.  This  school  property,  with  a 
teacher’s  cottage,  was  transferred  to  us  by  Dr.  Pease  as 
a gift;  and  the  generous  donor  lived  to  see  how\  under 
the  care  of  our  Society,  the  livery  stable  gave  place  to 
the  spacious  Allen  Home,  and  the  heterogeneous  school 
to  the  well-graded  academy  and  industrial  school. 

During  the  years  in  which  these  external  improve- 
ments have  been  made  greater  changes  have  taken 
place  in  the  mental  and  spiritual  condition  of  the  hun- 
dreds of  boys  and  girls  under  instruction  in  the  classes 
ranging  from  primary  to  academic.  Its  boys,  manly 
and  intelligent,  are  eligible  to  the  best  places  of  em- 
ployment in  the  city  and  vicinity.  Two  of  the  girl 
graduates  have  been  employed  as  teachers  by  our  So- 
ciety. Several  others  are  teachers  in  the  mission 
schools  of  other  denominations.  Some  are  teachers'  In 
the  public  schools  of  the  city;  and  scores  of  them  have 
been  teachers  in  the  country  schools.  Miss  Dole,  the 
superintendent,  who  has  remained  here  through  all  these 
years  of  improvement,  thoroughly  understands  the 


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colored  race,  its  deficiencies  and  its  possibilities,  and 
how  to  overcome  the  one  and  achieve  the  other.  The 
atmosphere  of  the  home  is  refined  and  cultured,  and  the 
religious  life  of  the  girls  is  kept  sane  and  strong.  In 
the  school  the  most  modern  methods  are  employed, 
and  the  pupils  respond  to  these  readily,  as  they  do 
also  to  the  work  in  the  sewing  and  cooking  classes.  As 
a rule,  every  room  and  bed  in  the  Home  is  occupied,  and 
the  school  building  is  so  crowded  that  many  more  than 
can  be  seated  must  be  received. 

The  work  at  Camden,  South  Carolina,  like  that  of 
Asheville,  was  begun  before  the  organization  of  our 
Society,  and  came  to  us  by  transfer  from  Mrs.  Sarah 
Mather.  At  that  time  the  property  consisted  of  the 
school  building  which  is  still  in  use,  and  the  Home, 
which  has  been  considerably  enlarged.  Since  then  we 
have  added  Babcock  Chapel,  which  has  on  the  first 
floor  an  audience  room  seating  three  hundred  and  fifty, 
and  above,  dormitory  accommodations  for  about  twenty- 
five.  We  have  also  an  industrial  building  which,  with 
its  equipment,  greatly  facilitates  the  work  in  the 
industrial  classes.  For  a number  of  years  we  have 
had  from  sixty  to  seventy  girls  in  the  Home,  and  about 
two  hundred  and  twenty-five  hoys  and  girls  and  young 
men  and  women  in  the  Academy.  Of  the  remarkable 
corps  of  New  England  women  who  cared  for  this  work 
for  many  years,  Miss  Russell  alone  remains,  her  service 
here  covering  a period  of  twenty  years.  Thoroughly 
intelligent,  and  so  alert  and  watchful  that  no  deficiency 
in  mind  or  manner  escapes  her  notice,  she  has  directed 
the  school  with  remarkable  efficiency,  considering  that 
the  pupils  are,  perhaps,  the  crudest  of  all  who  enter 
our  schools.  The  majority  come  to  us  direct  from  the 
plantations  and  the  cotton  fields;  but  with  the  faithful 
work  of  our  teachers  and  the  influence  of  the  life  in  the 
Home,  they  soon  reach  a most  satisfactory  condition  of 
knowledge  and  culture.  For  a number  of  years  we 
have  usually  had  as  many  as  three  of  our  graduates  as 
assistant  teachers.  More  than  a hundred  girls  each 


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year  are  in  the  sewing  classes,  and  work  is  done  that 
would  be  creditable  to  any  city  establishment. 

A few  years  ago,  coming  out  from  the  city  of  Camder< 
on  a railway  train,  a southern  gentleman,  none  toe 
friendly  to  the  Negro  race,  called  my  attention  to  a farm 
so  well  kept  that  it  would  have  done  credit  to  any 
wealthy,  northern  farmer,  saying,  “That  farm,  with 
another  like  it  and  a good  store  in  the  city,  belongs  to 
a colored  man,  who  is  altogether  the  leading  colored 
man  of  the  State.”  He  did  not  know  that  but  a few 
days  before  this  same  colored  man,  standing  on  the 
porch  of  Browning  Home,  had  said  to  me,  “All  that  I 
have  or  am  I owe  to  the  New  England  women  who 
came  here  after  the  war  and  opened  this  school.”  He 
Is  to-day  not  only  a safe  leader  for  his  own  race  but 
also  a citizen  welcome  in  counsel  with  the  white  men 
of  his  own  city. 

Several  of  our  men  graduates  have  taken  civil  service 
examinations  and  are  in  government  employ.  Some 
are  in  railway  offices  and  others  have  entered  the  law. 
The  large  majority  of  our  girl  graduates  are  teachers  in 
this  and  other  southern  States.  , 

Connected  with  this  work  are  the  plantation  schools 
at  Ephesus  and  Wesley.  Much  of  the  country  along  the 
Wateree  River  is  still  held  as  large  plantations,  and 
hundreds  of  Negroes  employed  are  isolated  here.  At 
my  first  visit  to  Ephesus  I found  the  old  church  of 
slavery  time,  windows  barred  with  planks,  roof  partly 
gone,  floor  decayed,  and  open  door  through  which  two 
little  girls  were  sweeping  the  dirt  with  a bundle  of 
brush.  Inside  was  a little  company  of  girls  seated  od 
rough  benches  without  backs,  around  the  body  of  a 
stove  propped  on  bits  of  brick.  Here  they  waited  for  the 
sewing  lesson,  and,  as  their  clumsy  fingers  tried  to 
follow  the  instruction  of  our  teacher,  they  were  learning 
to  recite  the  Psalms  and  the  multiplication  table.  Since 
that  day  a change  has  come.  Stimulated  by  teaching 
received  along  all  lines,  and  helped  directly  and  indi- 
rectly by  our  Society,  the  people  have  built  a good 


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frame  structure,  whose  bright  carpets  show  that  the 
brush  broom  has  been  banished.  They  have  now  church 
and  Sunday  school,  with  the  usual  officers  who  do  their 
work  intelligently.  The  Sunday  school  has  about  one 
hundred  in  attendance,  taught  by  our  teachers  and  our 
graduates  who  live  on  the  plantation.  One  of  the 
graduates  is  organist. 

A similar  work  is  going  on  in  connection  with  Wesley 
Church,  about  equally  distant  from  Camden  in  another 
direction.  This  church  has  nearly  five  hundred  mem- 
bers, and  on  special  occasions  such  as  quarterly 
meetings,  often  has  an  attendance  of  a thousand  per- 
sons in  the  church  and  the  surrounding  forest.  The 
people  come  from  miles  away  with  their  baskets  of 
lunch  and  spend  the  day;  so  that  this  becomes  a center 
of  interest  and  offers  a great  opportunity  for  instruction 
in  right  lines  of  living  and  worship.  In  the  Sunday 
school  one  of  our  teachers  instructs  the  . women  and 
girls,  and  another  has  a class  of  boys,  young  men, 
and  fourteen  of  the  older  men  of  the  church  who  are 
class  leaders,  exhorters,  and  local  preachers.  Through 
the  .latter  other  churches  are  receiving  the  benefit  of 
this  theological  school  in  the  forest.  That  there  is  some 
need  of  instruction  can  be  judged  from  the  wish  ex- 
pressed by  a pastor  for  his  teachers:  “May  the  super- 
intender’s cabinet  be  airtight,  ahd  may  they  stand  as 
the  stars  on  the  brow  of  the  eagle.”  As  a result  of  our 
work  in  this  school,  twelve  boys  and  girls  are  walking 
daily  from  seven  to  eight  miles  to  be  in  the  school  at 
Camden.  Though  there  is  still  ignorance  and  spiritual 
need,  there  is  yet  great  progress  and  much  spiritual 
growth,  and  the  workers  in  this  Bureau  see  the  oncoming 
light. 

WOMAN’S  HOME  MISSIONARY  SOCIETY 
METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 
150  Fifth  Avenue,  New  York  City 


50  or  less.  6c.;  50  to  100,  10c. 
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